Research Questions and Literature Reviews in Political Science

Question 1

What’s in a Research Question

Answer 1

• The transition from a research topic to a research question is essential because research topics are often too broad. Research questions narrow down the scope of inquiry, which is crucial for focused and productive research. A well-formulated question propels researchers to delve deeper into the topic and initiate the research process.

Question 2

Characteristics of a Good Question

Answer 2

1. Interesting and Important: The question should be intriguing and have significance, not only to the researcher but also in a broader academic or real-world context.
2. Concise and Clear: The question should be straightforward and to the point, avoiding ambiguity or vagueness.
3. Puzzling: It should present a puzzle or challenge that stimulates research efforts.
4. Researchable: While this is a less important characteristic at the initial stage of question formulation, a research question should ultimately be researchable, meaning it’s feasible to investigate within the available resources.

Question 3

Real-World and Academic Significance

Answer 3

• Research questions often have both real-world and academic significance, and these aspects are often intertwined. Scholars invest time in researching certain subjects because these subjects hold both academic value and practical importance.
• Two research papers, Alexander Lee’s work on the social and educational backgrounds of terrorists and non-violent activists in Bengal and Daniel Posner’s research on the political salience of ethnicity among the Chewa and Tumbuka peoples, serve as examples. These studies address real-world concerns while contributing to academic understanding.

Question 4

Solutions to Fundamental Problems

Answer 4

• Academic research frequently seeks to provide solutions to fundamental problems in society or the academic field. For instance, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks led to concerns about terrorism committed by non-state actors. Various countries allocated resources to identify global extremist networks, and researchers aimed to identify the characteristics of individuals who join such groups. Alexander Lee’s research challenged conventional wisdom, showing that the policy implications of previous work might be flawed.

Question 5

Academic Audiences

Answer 5

• Researchers consider their academic audiences when framing their research questions. They can target different audiences by adjusting the scale and focus of their research.
  1. “Connecting Up”: Researchers explore broader questions, such as why populist movements fail, which connect larger concepts.
  2. “Scaling Down”: Researchers delve into specific case studies or detailed investigations to understand the relationships between mass movements and democratic change, for example. These inquiries often look at specific events and their broader implications.
• Engaging with widely held values is an important aspect of constructing research questions. Researchers aim to appeal to shared beliefs and values among the public, making their research not only academically meaningful but also relevant to societal concerns.

Question 6

Types of Questions

Answer 6

• Researchers ask different types of questions depending on their research goals:
• Descriptive Questions: These seek to understand the characteristics of something or how it operates.
• Relational Questions: They investigate if two or more phenomena are related in some way.
• Explanatory Questions: These aim to identify the causes of a specific event or phenomenon.
• Prescriptive/Policy Analysis Questions: They explore the actions that can be taken to bring about a particular outcome.
• Normative Questions: These focus on what is just, right, or preferable and what should be done based on those principles.

Question 7

The Literature Review:

Answer 7

• Researchers use literature reviews to inform their readers about the “conversation” they are joining in academic research. The literature review is a concise summary of the existing knowledge on the research question, providing an overview of relevant theories and empirical studies.
• Key aspects to consider when reading a literature review:
• What is already known about the topic?
• Which bodies of literature are deemed relevant to the research question?
• What remains unknown or poorly understood about the topic?
• How does the research contribute to our understanding of the subject?
• Researchers need to condense a significant body of literature to convey the collective knowledge relevant to their research question. Literature reviews are organized around schools of thought and encompass both conventional wisdom and ongoing debates in the field.

Question 8

“Schools of Thought” in Political Science

Answer 8

• Structural: This perspective views human action as a result of an externally given environment.
• Institutional: It posits that humans react in predictable ways to man-made institutions.
• Ideas/Culture/Norms/Beliefs: This category deals with intangible ideas that hold meaning for groups of people and influence how they interpret the world.